Wedding Daze
by tilante
Summary: Max and Tutor are getting married... and they're not the only ones! AGP-verse, follows "Normal Life". Justin/Alex, Max/Tutor, Lexie/Gigi, and some other surprises.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: This is a part of the (in)famous "Alex Gets Punished" series, starting about five months after "Normal Life". Alex is seven months pregnant as we start.

* * *

><p>Justin Russo flipped over a page of the menu, ran his thumb down the side. "Seeing anything you want?"<p>

"Yes," Alex said, turning her head and nuzzling Justin's neck. "But it's not on the menu."

"Oh?" Justin smiled a little, said, "Well, I don't think you can have that here in the restaurant. So you'll need to find something on the menu."

She stretched a little, settling in fully against him in their booth. Justin moved her hand to the side of her seven-month-pregnant belly, rested it there lightly. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw their waitress arrive, looked up to see a smiling Korean girl with round Lennon-style glasses and a name tag that read 'Jessica'. "Good evening, sir, ma'am. What can I get for you to drink?"

"Coke for me, a double chocolate shake with whipped cream for the lady," Justin answered, finishing by turning his head and giving Alex a kiss on the temple. She smiled, and the waitress smiled at both of them, said, "I'll be right back with those."

When she was gone, Justin said, "So… your usual, or is the baby craving something different tonight?"

Alex shifted a little, and Justin frowned at her, feeling something wrong in the way she'd done it. "Are you feeling okay? If you don't want to eat right now, we don't have to…."

"No," she said quickly. "Feels like I want to eat all the time, right now."

"Well, you're supposed to." Justin smiled, gave Alex another kiss. "At least Mom isn't complaining that you need to gain more weight now."

He expected a chuckle from that, and when it didn't come, Justin frowned, then turned in the booth, moving his arm so he could pull away a little to take a better look at his sister. "What's wrong?" he asked, and Alex blushed a little.

"Oh, well…. Nothing's really wrong," she said, looking down at the table, "but…."

Justin knew better than to voice the sigh he felt. Instead, he laid one hand on Alex's arm and said, "But what?"

"I've been thinking, with Max and Tutor getting married… we didn't really get to have a wedding. I mean, what we had was wonderful, but the only people there were Miranda and Harper. And I didn't get to wear a gown, or have you in a tux, and -"

"Alex," Justin interrupted, squeezing her arm. "Before you get any further, I've got something I need to show you."

She frowned at that, said, "Can't it wait? I -"

"No." Justin shook his head, looking serious, raised his other hand to stroke Alex's hair. "It can't."

"Okay, well - we're not done with this yet, so if you're trying to distract me -" She stopped as Justin slid off the end of their seat, standing up.

"Excuse me," he called out, using what Alex recognized as his 'lecture hall voice'. "I'm sorry to interrupt your dining, but, if you'll indulge me for a moment…." People all over the restaurant turned to look as Justin turned back to Alex, knelt down and took her hand in his. "Alexandra Margarita Russo," he said in the same voice, "I love you now more than the day we married. I know the wedding we had was small, and you've never complained about that, but now, I want you to be able to have the wedding you deserve. So… will you please marry me again?"

He produced a box from his pocket with his other hand, held it out to Alex. She smiled, blushing slightly, and Justin smiled in return, knowing full well that the blush was a fake on her part. Alex still loved being the center of attention, and she deliberately paused for a moment, making sure everyone's attention was on her, before she said, "Yes."

Applause broke out, and under the cover of it, Alex said quietly, "It's a good thing you worded that the way you did, because if you'd made all these people think we weren't already married with me this pregnant, I would have had to hurt you."

Grinning a little, Justin leaned in and gave Alex a brief kiss, then said, "I love you too."

"So," Alex asked as Justin sat back down, "I take it was Tutor who tipped you off?"

Justin nodded and opened his mouth to say more, but the waitress interrupted, setting down their drinks. Smiling, she said, "That was very nice. The manager said to tell you, dinner is on the house for you tonight."

"Oh," Justin said, blinking, "that wo -"

"Would be _wonderful_," Alex interjected smoothly, giving Justin a not-too-subtle nudge in the ribs. "I'll need a little more time to look at the menu, though, please," she finished, and the waitress nodded.

"Of course, ma'am. I'll be back in just a few minutes."

Picking back up her menu, Alex started to flip through it, mostly looking at the pictures. "Okay, so... if Tutor tipped you off, I guess she also filled you in on the plan?"

Nodding, Justin said, "Yeah. A double wedding, with them and us. I like it. Saves everyone having to go to two weddings. And we can split a lot of the costs."

"Yeah, I figured you'd like that part." Alex rolled her eyes, then sighed a little. "But yeah, I was thinking of that too. Not like we've got a ton of money to spend."

Justin chuckled then, and Alex frowned. "What's funny?"

"I was just thinking about Da - your dad," he corrected smoothly, glancing around to see if anyone was listening, "and how he'll probably react. You know him and money."

"Oh, God, yes. I expect at least twenty minutes about how getting married at the courthouse was good enough for him and Mom. Followed by three hours of Mom not speaking to him."

"Yeah." Justin nodded, then said, "So... who else already knows about this wedding?"

"Just us, Tutor, and Max right now." Alex set her menu back down and leaned into Justin, let him wrap his arm around her. "We're still having dinner at Mom and Dad's Saturday, right? I figured we'd tell them then."

Justin snapped his fingers. "Oh, yeah, I'd almost forgotten about that."

* * *

><p>"Alex... you need to get up." A hand shook her shoulder, and she burrowed deeper into the blankets.<p>

"Don' wanna," she said, her voice blurry from sleepiness and the pillow against her face.

That was answered with a sigh of exasperation, followed by another shake. "Come on... you told me you have a meeting with clients at nine. You've got to get up and get moving."

"No. No I don't." The voice was a bit clearer now, beginning to be tinged with a bit of pique. "I can just tel -" She cut herself off just in time, before finishing the word, 'teleport', then turned over.

"Okay," Lexie said, looking up at Gigi. _She_ was already showered and dressed, and Lexie felt a moment's jealous anger - an all-too-familiar feeling where Gigi was concerned. With a sigh, she pushed the feeling down, and instead grabbed Gigi by the arm, pulled her down as she sat up, moving her head so that their lips met. For a moment, Gigi was still, and then she began to shyly return the kiss.

After a few seconds, they pulled apart again, looking into each other's eyes, and Gigi blushed. "I can't be late for work again," she said. "But I _so_ want to."

Lexie made a frustrated sigh, but nodded. "I know. We'll have fun tonight, though." She slid to the edge of the bed and stood up off it as Gigi nodded. _Wish I could just stop time for an hour or so right now and play around. But that'd involve explaining magic to Gigi, so..._

Picking up her bra from where it had wound up on the footboard of Gigi's bed, Lexie started to put it on. As she did, Gigi stooped down and picked up Lexie's skirt and blouse from the dressing table, then carried them over. Lexie nodded her appreciation, picked up the skirt and stepped into it.

"Oh," she said then, "I just remembered... I'm supposed to have dinner with the family tonight. Justin's visiting."

"Really?" Gigi smiled, said, "That's good. I know you miss him." She paused a second, then said, "Is Tutor going to be there?"

"Yeah," Lexie said, then stopped, her blouse on now, looking at Gigi. She was looking in the mirror, pretending to check her makeup, and Lexie knew she was trying not to let any hurt show, knew she still thought that Jerry and Theresa didn't accept her, when the whole problem was the magic thing, and...

And then Lexie had an idea. "You're invited too," she said, keeping her voice casual. She caught Gigi's surprised look out of the corner of her eye, managed to keep from smiling. "Can you come over at nine? We're going to have dinner a little late, since Justin's stomach is on California time."

"Sure!" Gigi said brightly, and Lexie had to smile at how happy she sounded. _Well, that's good. Now I'll just have to deal with the fallout at home..._


	2. Chapter 2

Gigi Hollingsworth looked into her mirror and sighed. She _really_ wanted to make a good impression with the Russos tonight - especially with Justin, since she knew that, as much as Alex might gripe about her older brother, they really were very close.

So of _course_ she couldn't find the blue-and-white dress she'd been planning on wearing. _Alex probably 'borrowed' it, like she did the red one._ There were times when the fact that they were the same size was a real bother. _Well, two can play that game._ With a gleefully vicious little smile, Gigi picked out her fallback dress, the sea-foam green one with the square-cut neckline and ruffled shoulders. _And to go with it…._

Moving over to the part of the closet that belonged to 'Alex', Gigi selected a patterned black scarf and matching sash. _The neckline will tease the guys with a little cleavage, and draping the scarf down will cover up enough that it doesn't look like I'm trying to do that. And if the end of it happens to wind up in dinner, well, that'll just serve Alex right for getting my red dress stained, won't it?_

She knotted the sash with a yank, was slightly disappointed when it didn't tear. Turning back to the mirror, she checked the effect of the scarf, smiled. _Okay. Brush hair, grab coat, take the subway down, and then it's showtime._

* * *

><p>Two thousand miles away, in Justin's Lair, Lexie was rolling her eyes as Justin squeaked, "You invited <em>Gigi<em>? _Why_?"

"Does it matter why? The fact is, I did. And I am _not_ going to call her and tell her she can't come _now_." She pointed at him, said, "That makes it _your_ job to help me out."

Through gritted teeth, Justin asked, "How does that make it my job, again?"

"Because _you_ made the Council make me a wizard again. So if Gigi finds out about magic because of me, it's your fault."

Justin opened his mouth to protest, then shut it with a snap as he realized that, knowing how arbitrary the Council could be, it was perfectly possible that they'd see things that way. _Likely, even, with my luck._

"Look," Alex put in then, "we all know you're going to give in and help her, Justin. It's not like she's left you with any real choice." She gave Lexie a glance that was somewhere between annoyance and admiration, then shook her head. "Let's just fast forward to the fixing things part right now."

Lexie broke into a grin, and Alex pointed to her. "Yeah, you won right now, but believe me when I say there _will_ be payback later."

"Sure, later," Lexie said with a dismissive wave. _I've won now, that's what counts._

Bowing his head down, Justin crossed his chest with his left arm, putting the fingertips of his other hand to his forehead and rubbing quickly as he did. "All right. Lexie, you'll need to put an illusion on Alex to make her look different. Alex, you're going to be my wife… Stephanie."

"Stephanie? Really?"

Ignoring Lexie's commentary, Justin pressed on. "Then we just have to tell Mom, Dad, Max, and Tutor about what's going on, hope no one slips up, and hope I don't accidentally cancel the spell when I touch Alex. Yeah. This'll be a piece of cake. There's no way this plan could possibly go wrong."

"Have you been having him practice his sarcasm? Because honestly, I think he's getting better at it."

"I've been noticing that too," Alex said with a nod. "It's not me, though." Lifting her hand to her mouth, she stage-whispered to Lexie, "I think he's been practicing in the mirror."

Justin rubbed his forehead faster, and Alex stepped forward, gave him a hug. "Calm down. It'll be fine. I'm _good_ at this kind of thing, remember? All those years keeping our magic secret, and keeping us secret… keeping Gigi from finding out for one night won't be any problem at all."

Wisely, she didn't give Justin time to actually reply to that, instead turning immediately to Lexie. "Okay, so let's get to work on this illusion. If we're going to make me look like someone else, I at least need to be _cute_."

* * *

><p>"Hold still." Tutor licked her handkerchief, then reached up to wipe at Max's nose. "How did you manage to get your nose dirty in the two minutes I was in the bathroom anyway?"<p>

"Oh, well, I was talking to the cat" - Max hooked his thumb toward Tutor's cat Pert, who was sitting on the kitchen windowsill washing a paw - "about how my stomach was feeling off earlier, and she said she always eats some of the grass when she's feeling like that."

"Pert!" Tutor looked to the cat, who yawned, then spoke.

"Hey, not my fault if he's dumb enough to go do just that. You picked him."

As Pert returned to washing her paw, Tutor turned back to Max, who shrugged. "It _did_ settle my stomach. I'm feeling a lot better now."

"What am I going to do with you?" Tutor shook her head, and Max immediately grinned, then opened his mouth to make a suggestion. Tutor gave him a light smack on the shoulder before he could get more than the first syllable out. "We're supposed to be at your parents in fifteen minutes, so no."

Max gave Tutor a sad look, and she went up on tiptoe to kiss him on the cheek. "No means later. _If_ you're good while your Mom and Alex and I talk about wedding plans."

Frowning a little, Max said, "Don't I get a say?"

"Honey, of _course_ you do." Tutor patted him on the shoulder. "It's your wedding too. I want to hear your ideas about it."

"Good," he said, smiling. Tutor smiled back - a smile that froze as Max continued. "Because I've been thinking."

There was a moment's silence as Max stopped. It ticked on, and finally Tutor took a deep breath, worked up her courage, and asked, "What?"

Max blinked. "What what?"

Tutor tilted her head. "You said you've been thinking."

"Oh, that." Smiling, Max nodded. "Yeah."

"Okay… so… have you thought of something you want?"

"Something I want?" Max looked confused for a second, then nodded. "Oh, yeah! You know those cartoons people make on the Internet? The ones that have cats saying funny things?"

Tutor blinked. "What?"

"You should totally make some of those with Pert. You wouldn't even need captions, since she can talk."

"What about the wedding?"

Max blinked again, then tilted his head to the side. Slowly, he asked, "What about the wedding?"

"Do you have any ideas about it?"

Shaking his head, Max said, "No."

"But… you… but… oh, never mind." Tutor grabbed Max's hand and started toward her portal, saying, "Let's just get to your parents'."

* * *

><p>Theresa Russo stared at her daughter. "You invited <em>Gigi<em>? _Why_?"

Lexie threw her hands up in the air. "Why does everyone have to ask that?"

"Because we want to know what possessed you to do something like that?" Jerry Russo shook his head, then crossed his arm across his chest and rubbed his forehead in the exact way Justin had earlier. "You're going to have to call her, make up some excuse. She can't see you and your sister together."

"Dad, it'll be fine."

Jerry looked up at that, then frowned. "Who are you, and why are you calling me - _Alex_?"

"We're not calling you Alex," the girl with the light brown hair and crystal blue eyes answered, her face serious. "We're calling me Stephanie."

"I don't know about this," Jerry started, then stopped as the face suddenly changed to a pout. "No. You're not getting me with the pout," he said, lifting up his hands and waving them in the air - and then Lexie stepped in beside Alex, and suddenly there were _two_ faces pouting at him.

Justin stepped up beside Jerry, put a hand on his father's shoulder. "Dad, if there's one thing I've learned from you, it's not to argue with my wife when she has her mind made up. We'll just have to manage with -"

He broke off as the doorbell rang. "That'll be Gigi," Lexie said with a smile, then skipped over to the door, while Justin, Jerry, and Theresa exchanged looks of doubt.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: The part of Alex-as-Stephanie is played by Kay Panabaker.<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

Lexie smiled as she approached the door, confident that everything was going to be fine. Honestly, Gigi wasn't the brightest girl - she wasn't _dumb_, but she wasn't as smart as, say, Harper, and definitely wasn't Justin-smart. _And besides, she'll be so happy that I'm showing her off instead of hiding her that she won't notice anything. And speaking of showing her off…._

Grinning slightly, Lexie threw the door open, then stepped forward and planted a kiss solidly on the warm, soft lips of - _wait, that's not_ -

Pulling away, Miranda blushed. "Uhh… I'm happy to see you too, but I'm kind of thinking you meant that for someone else?"

"Oh, uh… yeah. I thought you were Gigi." Lexie stepped back, grimacing and blushing as she did. Justin moved around her and took the collar of Miranda's coat to help her out of it.

"I kind of guessed that." Miranda nodded, giving Justin a quick smile as he hung her coat up. He nodded back to Miranda, then returned to Alex, kissing her on the temple as he put an arm around her. Frowning, Miranda looked at Alex's pregnant belly, looked up from it to take in her face and hair. "Uhh… is something going on? Because -"

"Gigi's coming to dinner tonight," Lexie put in. "And she -"

"Is here!" Gigi interrupted, stepping in through the still-open door. Startled, everyone looked at her for a moment, and Gigi looked curiously back at them, then quickly looked down. "Do I have something on me?"

"No, no." Lexie moved quickly to Gigi and gave her the kiss she'd given to Miranda a moment before. The results were much more satisfactory this time, as Gigi slid her arms around Lexie's waist and returned the kiss, the two of them holding onto each other for a good three or four seconds.

This was long enough for Jerry and Justin both to stare, and each to get an elbow in the side from their respective wives - Theresa giving Jerry a dirty look, while Alex's was mostly amused.

Breaking the kiss, Lexie turned, keeping an arm around Gigi's waist, gesturing toward Alex with her other hand. "Gigi, this is Justin's wife, Stephanie. I think you know everyone else already."

Gigi looked surprised for a moment, but covered quickly, stepping forward and putting her hand out. "It's nice to meet you. How soon are you due?"

"In two months." Alex took Gigi's hand slowly, shook it the same way, releasing it after two shakes. After about a second, she got out, "It's nice to meet you too. Alex has told me a lot about you," while managing something that superficially looked like a smile.

Seeing the expression, Gigi frowned a little. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, just… the baby's being a little restless." Alex put her hand on her belly, rubbed it a little.

Miranda moved in then. "Stephanie," she said deliberately, trying to fix the name in her mind so she wouldn't forget it, "would you feel better sitting down?"

Alex nodded gratefully, and Justin walked her over to the couch (which wasn't necessary at all, but Alex still thought it was sweet) while Miranda reached over the back of it to move pillows for her.

Gigi started to shrug out of her coat, and Lexie moved to help. As she did, Lexie pointedly whispered, "Nice dress you're wearing there." Blinking, Lexie looked down at it, then rolled her eyes as she realized it was Gigi's blue-and-white dress that she'd borrowed.

"Are you going to get mad at me about borrowing things again? In front of everybody?" The coat came off, and Gigi turned around and smiled sweetly.

"No," she said, putting a hand up to touch Lexie's scarf around her own neck. Lexie's eyes widened for a moment, then narrowed, while Gigi held her smile. "I mean, if you don't mind me borrowing _your_ things…."

Lexie opened her mouth for a retort, but stopped it as Jerry stepped in to take the coat from her and hang it. "Well, we're glad to have you here, Gigi," he said, giving her a smile.

"Thank you, Mr. Russo. I'm very glad to be here." Turning to Theresa, she asked "Is there anything I can do to help out? I know nine is a lot to cook for…."

"Oh, no," Theresa said, waving it off. "Thank you, Gigi, but you're a guest - go sit down. It's -"

Swallowing, Gigi quietly said, "Please. I don't want to be treated like a guest… I want to be family."

Theresa blinked then, surprised - and then smiled and laughed, took Gigi's hand and started to pull her toward the kitchen. "Well, then, come help. But let me tell you, most of _this_ family never does!"

Following in their wake, Lexie and Jerry looked at each other. "Have we just been insulted?"

"I think we have. In fact -" Lexie cut off as several things happened almost at once. First, Tutor and Max appeared, standing in the dining area, not three feet from where Gigi was standing at the moment.

Second, Max called out a loud "Hello!" This in turn caused the third event, which was Gigi jumping backward with a small shriek, crashing into Lexie as she did. The two of them both fell down, Gigi gaping wide-eyed at Max and Tutor.

"Where - how - what -"

As Gigi tried to form a sentence and Lexie tried to move out from under her, Jerry and Theresa both started toward her, talking at the same time. "Oh, I'm sorry, you must not have seen them there -"

"Max, don't rush in from the deck like that… you startled Gigi!"

"But… I didn't," Max said, frowning, and Alex, Justin, Miranda, and Tutor all sighed.

"Tutor? Can you get this one?" Justin asked, and she nodded, then held out her hands and waved them up and down. "_McReary Timereary_."

Justin started in surprise as everyone around him sprung into reverse motion. _What the - oh Hell, the spell didn't affect me. _He watched carefully, trying to judge just how far back Tutor had rewound things. _Okay, Alex is still on the couch, so I should be too…._

The rewind stopped as suddenly as it had started, and everyone started moving forward again. Justin half-listened as Miranda and Alex repeated their previous conversation, craning his neck this time to see what was going to happen now with Max and Tutor. A moment later, they came in through the door, and Justin let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding as they called out their hellos from there.

_All right. Crisis number one averted. How many more times are we going to have to do this before dinner's over?_


	4. Chapter 4

Justin got up and moved to the door, took Tutor's coat by the shoulders and helped her off with it. "Hey, good to see you guys. Alex invited Gigi. She just met my wife, Stephanie." He said it clearly, but with no special emphasis. As he did, he looked to Max, sure Tutor would get it instantly, but not so sure about his little brother.

"Stephanie," Max said, walking over to the couch to give Alex a hug. "Good to see you. How's my little niece or nephew doing?"

"A little restless tonight," Alex answered with a smile. "Keeps wanting to move around."

_Okay, that part's going well._ "Gigi," he said, waving her over, "come meet Max's fiancée -" Justin cut off there, not sure how to introduce her, but Tutor filled in.

"Tutor," she said, then shrugged, rolling her eyes. "My parents were going through a hippie phase."

"Oh. Tudor, like Henry VIII?"

"No, that'd be better. Tutor, like a teacher."

"Well…." Gigi smiled, taking Tutor's hand, and Justin relaxed a bit. _Of course she'll like Tutor. She's got the whole elf thing going, after all._ "My parents named me Gertrude, so I feel your pain." Putting her other hand on Tutor's shoulder, Gigi continued. "I don't usually tell people that, but I feel like I can trust you."

Smiling in return, Tutor said, "Well, your secret's safe with me. Thank you, Gigi." Satisfied that things were going well, Justin moved away from them, letting the two girls start to get to know each other as he returned to the couch with Alex.

As he sat down, Justin tilted his head toward Gigi and Tutor as he spoke quietly. "You should be talking to her too. You're supposed to have just met her."

He knew the look she gave him then, even coming from a different face. "Yeah… I'll go spend time talking to _Gigi_. No thanks."

"Lexie really seems serious about her. You should -"

Her voice rising a little, Alex crossed her arms. "_You_ should stop pushing me before you find yourself sleeping on the futon tonight."

Justin knew that was an empty threat, but he raised his hands palms out anyway, trying to mollify her. "Not trying to push you. But at least remember you're not supposed to already know her."

"Oh, trust me, I _wish_ I didn't already know her." Alex shot a sour glance at Gigi, who had now been joined by Lexie, the two of them holding hands as they talked to Tutor and Max. _Look at her, making nice and smiling. Well, I still don't trust her._

* * *

><p>"Here, let me help you with that." Gigi took the other end of the heavy pan that Tutor was carrying, and the two of them walked it over to the table, while Lexie smiled at them from the kitchen. <em>Wow, she's trying really hard to be helpful. It's not sinking in with Alex, but at least Tutor seems to like her, and Mom's being great.<em>

Max and Justin were keeping Alex company on the couch, the three of them talking low. Right now, Max seemed to be doing most of the talking, and Lexie was torn between wondering what he was talking about, and a strong feeling that she was better off not knowing.

Grabbing a couple of potholders, Lexie took the potatoes that had been staying warm in the oven and started toward the table with them, blowing a little kiss to Gigi as they passed. _Everything seems to be going well, though. There's no reason for anybody to do any magic during dinner, so we should be -_

"Hello!" The voice came up the stairs, and everyone turned to look - Theresa, Jerry, Lexie, and Justin with expressions of dismay, Alex covering her mouth to try to keep from laughing, Tutor looking puzzled, and Max being the only one to look welcoming and call out an answering "Hello!" - as Uncle Kelbo entered the room as Shakira.

Gigi started a 'hello', then blinked. "_Shakira_?" she called out, and Kelbo turned and frowned at her.

"Yes?" Gigi blinked again, working her mouth silently, and Tutor sighed, then pulled out her wand and froze Gigi in place, prompting an outcry from Lexie.

"What did you do that for?"

Tutor shrugged, saying, "Well, I don't know who this is" - gesturing toward Kelbo - "but from Gigi's reaction, and the looks most of you have on, I'm guessing this is going to need another rewind spell. So I might as well freeze her for a second while you explain."

"Explain? Explain what? The fact that we know Shakira? That's not revealing anything magical to her! Now we _have_ to rewind things, though, and -"

"I know I don't have a problem with it," Kelbo put in. "I'm always happy to meet a fan."

"I don't like it," Theresa put in, crossing her arms where she stood in the kitchen. "Us just happening to know Shakira really is stretching things a bit. Jerry?" She looked to her husband for support, who immediately made a pained expression and scratched an ear.

"Well... if Kelbo's more comfortable like this, I don't want him to have to be uncomfortable..." As he said that, Theresa's expression turned stony, and he trailed off, looking pained.

Rolling her eyes, Alex stood up and shook her head. "Okay. Here's how this works. We tell her this is our cousin, who's a look-alike, and does parties and stuff as Shakira. That explains that." Sitting back down slowly, she shook her head again, mumbling "Doesn't anyone else in this family know how to come up with a good lie?"

"Excuse me," Justin put in, holding up a hand.

Alex thwapped his side and rolled her eyes. "You're not in school any more Justin, you don't have to ask permission to speak."

Ignoring that, he pointed to Kelbo. "You've got your shape under control, right? You're not going to suddenly turn into yourself during dinner?"

"Of _course_ I have my shape under control. Has the Wizard's Council broken my hands?" Kelbo held his - her? - hands out, showing them off, and Justin nodded.

"Okay, then. Gigi doesn't know about magic, and doesn't know about Alex and Lexie, so Alex is Stephanie tonight. Got it?"

"Sure, sure. The old switcheroo-with-magic-disguise. Yeah."

This didn't really make Justin feel any better, but he gamely continued. "Okay, then. Everyone get back where you were when Tutor froze Gigi, and I'll count three, and then she'll unfreeze her. Right?"

"Not right," Theresa replied, shaking her head quickly. "I still don't think -"

Alex interrupted, saying "One."

"Young lady, don't you -"

"Two," Lexie put in, and Theresa turned to look at her.

"Three," Justin finished, figuring he might as well share the blame, and Tutor waved her wand.

Kelbo let out a little laugh, smiling at Gigi, then stepped over and laid a hand on her wrist. "No - I'm Rosa, Jerry's cousin. But I get that all the time."

"Yeah," Lexie added. "In fact, Rosa works as a Shakira impersonator for parties sometimes."

"Oh?" Gigi frowned, looking 'Rosa' up and down, then shook her head. "Well, you sure would have fooled me! Honestly, you look _exactly_ like Shakira."

"Part of it's the costuming," Kelbo said with an off-hand wave. "And how I do my hair and makeup."

"Really? You'll have to show me sometime."

"I'm sure she'd be glad to," Theresa said, her tone a little frosty, "but we really should have dinner now. Come on, everyone... the food's just going to get cold if we don't eat it."


	5. Chapter 5

Dinner started with small talk - work and school, the normal ups and downs of day-to-day life. Of course, the Russos couldn't talk to Gigi about Max's job as a dragon trainer, or exactly what Tutor tutored peopled in, but they managed to work around that... sort of.

"So, Max... what is it that you do?" Gigi gave him a smile across the table, which Max returned.

"Oh, my job's not really that interesting, itself. But some of the people I work with... well, let me tell you, the other day, I was putting out a fire at work" - he said it casually, making Gigi think he meant a figurative fire - "and this one guy I work with, Portnoy, comes up behind me and starts saying how I'm doing it all wrong. So I just nodded my head and talked like I was going to do what he said, until he was all happy and left."

Max rolled his eyes. "But there's people like that everywhere. I'll bet you have somebody like that where you work, don't you?"

He turned everything around like that, doing it so well that Justin couldn't help but feel admiration at it. Seeing him like this, it was obvious that Max was much smarter than he let on.

Thankfully, Gigi was more than happy to talk about herself, which made it pretty easy on Max... although the kicks Alex kept giving Justin under the table every time he paid attention to Gigi were starting to make his leg rather sore.

Then the baby started kicking, and turns were taken feeling 'Stephanie's' belly. Gigi wanted to feel as well, and although Justin could tell Alex wasn't happy about that, she somehow managed to put up with it... creating a pain in his hand as well in the process, as she grabbed onto it tightly the whole time Gigi was touching her. Justin honestly wasn't sure whether that was another way of punishing him, or whether she actually disliked Gigi that much.

As the table was being cleared of dinner and dessert being readied, Justin pulled Jerry off to the side. "Dad… I need to ask you something. Can we go out on the terrace for a minute?"

"Sure." Jerry nodded, and the two of them stepped out, Justin sliding the glass door closed behind them.

"So, what can't we talk about in front of everyone else?" Jerry asked, moving to the edge of the terrace and looking down at the street below. "Something to do with your position with the Council?"

Justin moved up beside him, looked out. "Nothing like that. It's more, umm… personal." Nervous now, Justin scratched under his ear, moving down his jawline. Jerry turned his head, raising his eyebrow, but not saying anything.

"This, umm… look, I know this is going to sound crazy, but, uh…."

Watching Justin hem and haw, Jerry chuckled and smiled. "Son… I got used to crazy a long time ago. Spit it out."

"Okay, well… with Tutor and Max getting married, it's gotten Alex wanting to have another wedding, and… I want to do it right this time, and, umm… I'dliketoaskyouforAlex'shandinmarriage," he let out in a sudden rush.

Jerry stared at his eldest child for a long moment, then gave out a long sigh. "How much is this going to cost me?"

* * *

><p>A couple of minutes later, they came back in, and 'Stephanie' immediately moved to her husband. "So, what did he say?"<p>

"Uhh... he gave us his permission."

Alex smirked. "Come on... I know Dad better than to think he just said 'yes'. What did he _really_ say?"

"Well, you know Dad," Justin said with an eye roll. "First words out of his mouth: 'How much is this going to cost?'"

Alex laughed and nodded. "That's Dad, all right." She paused, grinned a little, rubbed up against her brother. "So, did he give you his blessing, though, or what?"

"Umm, well... you know how he isn't always the best at wording things..." Justin reached and scratched his neck uncomfortably, reddening a little.

"What did he say?" Alex repeated, giving Justin a questioning look. He didn't answer, and she said, "Come on. I'm going to get it out of you sooner or later. And I'm just as used to him as you are. So tell me."

Justin muttered something quickly, and Alex leaned closer, said, "What was that?"

"He said, 'Well, it's either let you keep her, or have her move back in with us, right? So I guess you can keep her.'"

Alex blinked twice, then shook her head. "Y'know, it's times like this that I'm amazed Mom hasn't killed him yet..."

* * *

><p>Once dessert was out and everyone was back at the table, Tutor brought the subject around to her and Max's wedding, and she and Alex exchanged looks and smiles.<p>

"Well, speaking of that..." Alex said, raising her voice a bit to make sure everyone could hear. She threw in the pause quite deliberately, then waited until all eyes were on her. "Tutor and I were talking, and we decided that since Justin and I never got to have a formal wedding ceremony, we should make it a double wedding!"

She took Justin's hand, holding it up where everyone could see it. "Everyone'll be coming anyway, so we can renew our vows, and I can get to wear a wedding dress and all that!"

Alex stopped then, looking around at everyone. "Well, what do you think?"

"That's wonderful!" Lexie called out, standing up and coming around to hug Alex and Justin. "You two really do deserve it!" Gigi came as well, and Kelbo, and then everyone was getting up.

Theresa, though, was frowning. "Alex," she said, giving her warning voice - and then she snapped her mouth shut as she realized the mistake she'd just made. Recovering quickly, though, she looked at Lexie and continued. "Alex - come help me in the kitchen for a moment, please. We should get that bottle of champagne we've been saving to celebrate this."

The two of them moved off, Justin watching nervously out of the corner of his eye as Theresa whispered insistently to Lexie - and then gritted his teeth as Gigi suddenly froze in place, just as she was putting a forkful of chocolate cake into her mouth.

"All right," Theresa said then, quite loudly, as she strode back to the table and put her hands on her hips, gazing down at 'Stephanie'. "Alex, what do you think you're doing? Are you seriously proposing that we invite the family to come see you and your _brother_ get married?"

Crossing her arms, Alex answered her. "Well, they're already coming to see Max marry his elven bride there. How did you think that was going to work out? Or did you think Tutor just wouldn't invite anyone from her side?"

"At least her side isn't the same people as Max's side! Don't you think -"

"That it'll look a lot better to have two actual sides, instead of the one that we'd have if Justin and I had our own wedding?" Alex threw her hands up into the air, saying, "Yes, yes, I do!"

Tutor moved forward, between the pair of them, holding up her hands. "Wait, wait! This was part my idea, so please listen!" Justin was pretty sure that without Tutor's natural elf magic, that wouldn't have worked, but amazingly enough, it got both Alex and Theresa to stop.

"I _am_ inviting my family and friends," Tutor continued. "And they're wizards. So that means we're already going to have to find a way to hide that from the other guests. We'll hide who Steph - who _Alex_ is as well, the same way.

Lexie stepped up then, nodding. "We can do this. It'll work out. Look how well we're managing tonight!" She gestured toward the frozen Gigi. "She doesn't suspect a thing - and that's without us having any real time to prepare!"

At that, Justin had to bite his own lip to keep from speaking. While he had the immediate urge to mention that they'd already had three close calls - and the night wasn't over yet -he knew that if he did, Alex would be making life extremely uncomfortable for him for a while.

"Well, I think it's a great idea, and I'll be glad to help!" That was Kelbo, and as he spoke, Theresa looked around at everyone, then crossed her arms and looked at her husband.

"Jerry? Are you going to tell me you think this is a great idea too?"

With a pained expression, Jerry shook his head. "I don't know. I mean - I know this has to mean a lot to you, kids, but it's dangerous. There's a lot of potential for something to slip."

"Umm... speaking of something slipping," Justin put in, "the longer we keep Gigi frozen, the more likely it is that she's going to notice something different when we release her." He paused a beat, then added, "_And_ if we unfreeze her and suddenly say that we're not going to have the double wedding, that's going to seem strange too. So unless you want to discuss this in front of her, we need to do this later."

Everyone looked at Gigi, and then Theresa sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine. But we talk about it tonight, after Gigi's gone. Do you understand?"

"Fine," Alex snapped out, her arms still crossed tightly. "But we're still opening that bottle of champagne to celebrate. Gigi heard you say that." Theresa opened her mouth, but Alex held up a hand and cut across her. "And no, I'm not having any of it, since I'm pregnant. But everyone else is."

Her eyes were hard and angry, but Justin knew that look all too well, knew just how close Alex was to breaking down and crying under the surface. He let out a slow breath, fighting back a sigh at the thought of the fireworks to come, once the bystanders were cleared out of the way.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Life's been a bit hectic lately, which has slowed me down on the updates - my apologies. I am not abandoning any of my current stories, though!

Thanks go out to Save vs. Magic, who beta'ed this chapter for me. There's a couple of bits there you wouldn't have seen without his influence. So go read his stories too. Trust me, they're great.


	6. Chapter 6

They had the champagne, and more of the cake as well. Pregnant Alex, unable to drink the champagne, had soda instead, but compensated with even _more_ of the cake.

"What?" she said around a mouthful of icing, returning an innocent look to Theresa's raised eyebrow at her third helping. "I'm eating for two now!"

Lexie snorted into her champagne glass. "Two? The way you've been eating, I would've guessed at least four."

"Alex! Be nice!" Gigi elbowed Lexie playfully in the ribs, then smiled apologetically at Alex. "I swear, she says anything and everything that comes into her head. She has ever since kindergarten. It's like she has no internal censor whatsoever."

"You don't say," Alex replied, her voice flat as she speared her next forkful of cake with much more force than needed. "That must be very frustrating for you."

"Actually… it's kind of refreshing," Gigi said, squeezing Lexie's hand and giving her a fond smile. She leaned over to kiss Lexie on the cheek, then turned back to Alex. "Even if it is like living with a six-year-old sometimes."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Justin sighed as he took a sip of champagne, then nearly choked as he realized he'd said that out loud - and that Lexie and Alex were both giving him dirty looks. "Uhhh… so, how about this whole double wedding idea?" he ventured. "Crazy, huh?"

Gigi and Lexie peppered Tutor and Alex with questions about the wedding plans. Justin kept having to hide a grin every time their father would get a panicked look and start talking about costs, which was quite often.

A couple of hours into the evening, Tutor excused herself and headed off toward the bathroom. About a minute later, Max also got up, mumbling something about refreshing his drink - and once he was behind the kitchen island, lifted one leg, said "_Geilsjay timesday_," then hopped off toward the bathroom as well, leaving Justin sitting in a room full of frozen people.

"What the -" Justin said out loud, then noticed Max's disappearance. "Ohhh_kay_," he sighed aloud, then stood up. "Let's go see what disaster they're trying to fix _now_." Moving carefully, Justin made sure not to bump Alex on his left - his control over his abilities obviously wasn't working too well, and he didn't want to accidentally remove her 'Stephanie' disguise - or Gigi on his right, who would raise a completely different set of problems.

Having negotiated that, Justin then headed back toward the bathroom, mouth twisting as he anticipated what sort of mess Max could make fixing something Tutor hadn't been able to fix by herself...

In the bathroom, Tutor gave her fiancé an annoyed look in the mirror. "Max, _no_. We can't -" She broke off, making a little 'ah' as he tightened his arm around her and moved her hair aside to kiss the back of her neck. "No..." she continued, but this one was faint, barely audible as his hand moved upward to cup her breast.

"Please?" he breathed into her ear. "We didn't get to at home, and I've had a boner all through dinner... with time stopped, nobody'll know..."

Tutor squirmed in Max's arms, rolling her eyes as she did. "You and that boner of yours... how did you ever make it through a full day of high school?"

Max lifted his head to grin at Tutor in the mirror. "Like this. I got really good at standing on one leg. Only I didn't have you for it, so I had to -"

She pressed fingers against Max's mouth, shushing him. "Stop with the story. Okay. I know when I'm licked."

"You're not licked yet," Max offered, "but I can -"

Tutor shushed him again, and he let her loose as she turned around, then hitched herself up onto the counter by the sink. Lifting her skirt up, she pointed down. "Quit talking about it and do it."

Max frowned. "Umm... I have to keep standing on one leg."

"Oh, right." Tutor took out her wand, waved it in a graceful upward arc. "_Effero_," she said, and then rose slowly in the air. When her hips were level with Max's face, she dipped the wand, saying, "_Siste_," and stopped rising. "Now..." She reached down and placed her hand on the back Max's head and pulled him gently forward. "Get to work."

* * *

><p>Outside the bathroom, Justin put one hand to his face and shook his head a little. <em>Great. Max and Tutor are getting busy in there<em>. _Wonder how long that's going to take them._ He could hear little oohs and ahhs coming from Tutor through the door now, and then a muttered "Yes, lick it right there - put your tongue in me and -"

Justin moved away from the bathroom door then, back into the kitchen. Everyone at the table was still frozen, and as his eyes fell on Lexie and Gigi, sitting next to each other, he couldn't help but suddenly envisage them engaged in what Max and Tutor were doing - Lexie laying on her bed, head tilted back, eyes closed and mouth open in that face that she and Alex both made when they orgasmed, as a naked Gigi licked her below, face buried in Lexie's hot little pussy -

_Stop stop stop stop STOP_! He turned around and looked at the refrigerator, concentrating on it, trying to get the picture out of his head. He took a deep breath, let it out slowly, then another, concentrating on his breathing, clearing his mind. After almost half a minute, he felt the exercise working, the feeling of flushed excitement fading away -

"_Oh! Oh, yes, Max, push that finger in my ass!_"

Hearing _that_ immediately broke what composure Justin had been able to achieve. He froze in a mixture of horror and fascination as Tutor went on. "That's right... just like that. Be a good student, and do it just like your Tutor taught you..."

* * *

><p>Max grinned as Tutor came, her voice trailing off into a moan, her hand pushing hard on the back of his head as he licked her clit and gave her two fingers hard and fast, one in her sopping-wet pussy, the other in her tight little ass. She went on for maybe half a minute, her legs jerking a little as the muscles of her thighs twitched in sympathy with those inside her.<p>

Then she released him, and Max pulled his fingers out and took a step back as Tutor gently drifted back down onto the counter. "Now it's time for your reward," she cooed.

"Do I get a gold star?" Max asked, opening up his pants as he did.

"You get something better than that," she answered, leaning back and angling her hips. She pointed her wand at Max's now-exposed cock, then said, "_Double your pleasure, double your fun, with a double-double johnson._" They'd used this spell before - quite often, in fact, Tutor's proclivities being what they were - and so Max was not at all surprised as he grew a second cock, just above the one he'd been born with.

"Now hurry up and get those in me," she ordered, pointing down. "I'm really ready for you."

* * *

><p><em>Double johnson? Is that twice the size, or…?<em> Justin frowned, and then shook his head as another thought tried to intrude, this one involving Lexie laying on top of Gigi, and him approaching the pair of them with -

_No no no no!_ As smacking sounds and urgent moans started coming from the bathroom, Justin half-ran to the patio, closing the door behind him. Out there, the sounds were mercifully inaudible over the noise of the city. He went to the barrier at the edge, leaned on it and sighed. _How long are they going to take? Call it five minutes to be on the safe side. _He looked at his watch, then groaned at the sight of the unmoving second hard. _Apparently my immunity to that spell doesn't extend to the watch._

Frowning, he pressed the button for the barometer. It showed a reading - and then the second hand started ticking forward. Surprised, Justin whirled, then relaxed as he saw the family was still frozen. _Hmm... was my paying attention to the watch enough to make it move?_ He looked down at it again, saw the second hand still steadily moving forward. _Interesting. I'll have to experiment with it more later, when Lexie can help._

He kept checking the watch periodically until four minutes had gone by, then went inside and slipped back into place, between Alex and Gigi, trying to remember exactly what position he'd been in when everyone else had frozen. When he heard the bathroom door open, he moved into position, then froze in place as if he'd also been affected by the spell, fighting back the urge to grin as Max hopped back into the kitchen, then set his foot down.

Justin must have been close enough, since no one seemed to notice anything unusual as they started to move again. He glanced at Gigi a couple of times - which earned him another thump under the table from Alex - but she hadn't noticed anything at all.

_Whew. _Another_ bullet dodged. What was Max thinking?_ Then Justin had to fight the urge to chuckle, as he thought, _He was thinking with the other head, that's what he was thinking. Wish I'd been able to get a quickie with Alex while they had theirs, but oh well..._

* * *

><p>Author's Note: Yes, I am still alive! I'm not getting a lot of writing done right now, but I'm not abandoning any of my stories - just be patient with me right now, please.<p>

Thanks go out to Save vs. Magic again for his wonderful beta skills. The quick discussion about Alex at the start was his idea, so if you liked it, thank him for it!


	7. Chapter 7

Lexie hesitated for a moment, frowning as she looked at the cab that was coming down the street toward her and Gigi. _Is that Bert? _It was one of Sunshine's cabs, and with the streetlights reflecting off the windshield, she couldn't tell for sure whether the cab had a driver or not, and...

And it didn't matter, since Gigi had already stepped off the curb and raised her hand. The cab pulled over, and Lexie gritted her teeth for a moment. _Don't be Bert, don't be Bert. We've had to mess with Gigi enough tonight already... _Gigi opened the door, and Lexie let out a little breath as she saw that there was indeed a driver. She stepped out as well then, offering Gigi a hand to steady herself as she got in, sliding in after her, and closing the door behind them.

Gigi was already giving the cabbie the address, and Lexie sat back for a moment. _That went well, really. Don't think Gigi suspects any- _

Lexie's thought cut off as Gigi slid over and leaned against her, laying her head on Lexie's shoulder. "Alex?" Her hand slid across Lexie's thigh, then met Lexie's hand, fingers intertwining. "About tonight... a lot of stuff felt kind of weird."

"Yeah?" Lexie put on a surprised look. It was harder than it should have been - she'd been doing this pretty much her whole life, after all, lying to people about all the strange things that happened around her and her family. _Damn. Maybe I should just tell her. She has to know eventually, right? _Lexie licked her lips, then said, "Like what?"

"Well... do you think your family likes me?"

"What?" Lexie blinked. "Of course they do!"

"Are you sure? They just seemed kind of... I don't know." Gigi's other arm slid behind Lexie, and for a moment, Lexie could see her face reflected in the Plexiglas partition. Her mouth was pulled to one side in an uncertain expression, and her eyes were shining.

"Hey, hey..." Lexie gave Gigi's hand a squeeze, then turned and hugged her, raising a hand to stroke Gigi's hair gently. "They like you. If they're acting a little strange, well..." Lexie shrugged. "That's because they _are_ a little strange. It's nothing to do with you, okay?"

Gigi frowned and shook her head. "No... your family is normal."

Lexie couldn't help it - she let out a snort of laughter at that. "_Normal?_ No, you must have us confused with some other family. What kind of normal family - uhh - umm -" _Oh. Oh, hell, why did I even start that sentence? What am I going to tell her?_

"Alex, come on." Gigi pulled back a little and shook her head. "Your family's so normal they could... I don't know..." Gigi waved a hand in the air, then finished, "be on a Disney show or something! I mean, your parents are still married, and they're as close to 2.5 children as they can be, and Justin's married to a nice girl, and they're having a baby, and Max's girlfriend is like, the all-American blonde, and... and I'm just the thing that's messing it all up, you know?" Gigi shrugged and shook her head.

"Gigi!" Lexie shook her head. "Stop! Look, I know it looks that way, but -" _But I'm a clone and Justin's actually married to the original me, and Tutor's an elf, and... no._ "Look. It's not like it's your fault that I'm gay. Any problem my family might or might not have with that, they'd have whether you were in the picture or not. And..."

Lexie took another breath. _Okay, you can talk about this. Come on. _"Justin and Max accept me, and they accept you too. Mom..." This time, it was Lexie who moved forward, hugging Gigi. "I don't know. She says she accepts me, but... I wonder sometimes. Her family... they're a lot more traditional." _Yeah, that's a good way to put it._ "I know she hasn't talked to grandma about me. I don't think grandma would understand." _My existence, that is._

"Oh, Alex..." Gigi hugged Lexie tightly, pulled hair from her temple and kissed her there. "She's your grandma. I'm sure she loves you no matter what."

"Yeah?" Lexie winced a little at the sound of her own voice, at the sob she was sure Gigi could hear trying to break through. "I'm glad you're sure. Because I'm not. I -" She broke off again then, buried her face in Gigi's neck, shaking her head. "It's like... grandma doesn't even know who I am, you know? She loves the Alex she knows, but if she knew me, would she love me then?"

* * *

><p>"Mom, we can manage this. We've got three full wizards here, and even if I can't help directly, I can still -"<p>

Theresa shook her head at Justin, her tight-lipped expression unchanging. "I've heard that before. Too many times."

"And we've always managed it!" Alex half-yelled, throwing her arms up into the air. "Just look at tonight! We didn't have any time to plan at all, but we managed everything just fine! If we plan this out ahead of time -"

"Theresa," Tutor put in, "please. We're going to have to use magic to keep things under control anyway, with my side of the family coming. This isn't going to be much extra bother - certainly less than having to do it for two separate weddings..."

"We're still only having one real wedding anyway," Theresa spat, "or do you thing you can get a marriage license for you and _Stephanie_?"

Crossing his arms, Justin frowned. "That's what this is really about, isn't it, Mom? You still don't approve of Alex and me being together."

Theresa opened her mouth, then shut it so quickly her teeth clicked. "Well, Mom, that's not going away," Alex - who was herself again, now that Gigi was gone - put in. "In case you haven't noticed, even if Justin and I were to break up, there'd kind of be a permanent reminder now." Alex gestured down to her belly, which, eight months into her pregnancy, was sticking out a good foot.

Mother and daughter glared at each other for a few moments, and then Theresa threw up her hands and let out in a huff, "Fine! Do what you want! You always have anyway, just like your father!" With that, she stormed from the room.

* * *

><p>"And then what happened?"<p>

Lexie threw up her hands. "She went off on me! Did this whole big screaming fit thing right there in the cab, about how I always want to make everything be about me, and couldn't I see she wanted to be reassured, and... and hell, I don't even know. It was like classic Gigi from back in high school, and I got mad and blew up back at her, and..."

With a deep sigh, Lexie stopped pacing and put her head in her hands. "Hell. I didn't mean any of it to happen like that. Just... I'd been stressing the whole night, you know? And it seemed like everything had gone so well, right up until the end there..."

Miranda had her head down, sipping her tea, but her eyes were fixed on Lexie, angled up at her. "Did you tell Gigi any of that?"

Shaking her head, Lexie sighed again. "What would I tell her? 'Oh, sorry, I've been stressed all night because of all the trouble it's taking to keep you from finding out all the family secrets?' Yeah, that's the conversation I want to have right now."

"Okay, I'm kind of new to this whole magical world thing, so... how bad is it if she finds out? I mean, they didn't seem too upset about me knowing, and Harper and Zeke have known for years, right?"

"I don't know, really," Lexie said, shaking her head. She took a step to her right, then flopped down into the big wicker chair, leaning back into the cushions. "I mean... the wizard people make a big deal out of not letting non-wizards know anything half the time, but then it seems like they don't actually _do _anything when someone does find out."

Miranda set her cup down and put her hands in her lap. "So why not tell Gigi?"

"If it were just up to me, I would. But Justin's the reason that I even have powers now, and if anybody finds out because of me, they'll probably blame him, and..." Lexie stopped and shrugged, looking down at the floor.

"Have you talked to him about it?" There wasn't any answer, and after a few seconds, Miranda said, "I'll take that as a no. You should. You -"

"I'm scared." It was barely more than a whisper, and Lexie's eyes shot to Miranda as soon as she'd said it, lips curling in as if trying too late to stop the words from coming out.

Miranda blinked. "Scared of talking to Justin?"

"No." Lexie shook her head and cracked a lopsided smile at that. "Me, scared of _Justin_? Please. Don't make me laugh."

"Then what?"

"I'm scared to tell Gigi. That she'll freak, or think it's a joke, or..."

Lexie stopped and hugged herself, looking down, and after a moment, Miranda spoke. "Or that she'll think you're a freak for being a wizard?" Lexie still didn't say anything, but Miranda could see the look on her face. Slowly, she stood up from the sofa, then moved over to the wicker chair, sat on its edge and laid a hand gently on Lexie's shoulder. "You're not a freak, Alex. Being a wizard is part of who you are. You -"

With a quick twist of her torso, Lexie shook off Miranda's hand and turned away from her. "And being a clone?" she asked, her voice miserable. "That doesn't make me a freak? How do I tell her I'm not the girl she thinks I am? How do I explain _that_ to her? And what am I gonna do at the wedding?" She put her hands on the sides of her face. "I can't tell any of our mortal relatives who I really am. And the wizards who'll be there... are they going to accept me?"

Miranda put her hands on Lexie's shoulders and began to slowly knead the muscles there. _Wow, she's tense. Not that I should be be. _"It's okay. What's important is that you accept yourself. Those who love you will accept you, no matter what."

There was no answer to that right away, and Miranda let it be quiet, continuing to massage the tension in Lexie's shoulders and letting her think about that. It was maybe half a minute before Lexie broke the silence. "Do you? Please, be honest."

"Of course I do!" Miranda let go of Lexie's shoulders to slide forward and wrap arms around her, hugging tightly. "Nobody gets to choose how they're born. Just because you didn't get here like the rest of us doesn't make you any less wonderful. Okay?"

Lexie put her arms over Miranda's and closed her eyes, letting herself melt into the embrace. "Thank you. Really."

"You're welcome." Closing her eyes as well, Miranda shifted her grip a little, loosening the hug, but not letting go.

* * *

><p>Back at the Russos, everyone looked at each other for a moment in the living room. Kelbo - still being Shakira - was the first to speak. "Hey, we all know I'm no good at calming Theresa down."<p>

Justin let out a sigh and nodded. "Right. I'll go talk to her." He took a step in the direction his mother had gone, then stopped as Jerry put a hand on his shoulder.

"No," he said, shaking his head. "Not yet. Give her a little time first. In the meantime... come with me." Jerry started toward the stair, Justin following. As he stepped onto the first step down, Jerry looked back at the others. "Alex, Max, Tutor... come on. You should all hear this."

The Russo children - and Tutor - had a quick, silent conversation made up of glances. It went something like this:

Justin raised his eyebrow and tilted his head to say, _Is this a good idea? Mom seemed really upset._

With a flip of her hair, Alex replied, _Well, I'm not going to be the one to go try to talk to her._

Tutor looked back and forth between the two of them, with a puzzled '_What the heck is going on?_' expression. She shot a glance over to Max, tilting her head. _Honey, Justin and Alex are doing that telepathy thing again._

Seeing that, Alex bit her lip and looked over to Justin, frowning slightly as she chewed her lip. _Is this a thing of ours?_

With an eyebrow raise and a slight twist of his mouth, Justin said, _Of course it's a thing of ours. We've been doing this since we were kids. _Then he smiled a little and reached for Alex's hand, gave it a little squeeze. _And I love you. Always and forever._

Alex returned the smile. _I know._ Which, of course, Justin knew meant_ I love you too._

Meanwhile, though, Max was staring into space, but then he suddenly smiled. Tutor frowned at that, then reached to touch Max's shoulder to say _Hey, listen to me_... but then she wrinkled her nose and began to wave her hand in front of her face quickly, giving Max a disgusted look. _Oh God, did you just fart?_

Max lowered his eyebrows, frowning a _What?_ Before Tutor could say anything to that, though, Jerry broke up the silent conversation. "Hey! Come on you guys," he said back up the stairs, waving impatiently at the little group.

Moments later, the five of them headed into the Lair, Jerry going first, then Alex and Justin. Justin stopped and looked around, frowning. The place had been rearranged since he'd seen it last, and now most of the magical accoutrements were gone. "What did you do with everything?"

"Oh, well... Max moved most of his stuff to Tutor's, and Lexie's using your lair, so..." He gave a shrug and a slightly embarrassed smile. "Your mother doesn't really like the whole magical room thing, so I've kind of made it into my den."

"I like what you've done with it," Tutor said, nodding as she looked around. Alex immediately headed to the black leather couch and sat down on it, while Justin kept frowning. "There's something about this room... like I've seen it before..." He ran a hand along the black countertop of the new, wooden cabinets, looking at the books and pictures along it as if they might tell him something.

"Oh, sit down already," Alex said, patting the couch beside her, and Justin gave his head a last little puzzled shake, then came around and sat beside her.

Jerry, meanwhile, had sat in a seat across from them. As Tutor and Max headed for their seats, Jerry said, "Kids, I'm going to tell you an incredible story. The story of how I met your mother."

Max stopped and looked up at that. "Are we being punished for something?"

"No," Jerry answered.

Justin blinked and opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Alex said, "Yeah... is this gonna take a long time?"

"Wait, wait -" Justin interrupted then, putting his hands to his temples and shaking his head. "Haven't we done this before?"

Everyone looked at him. "Nooo... " Alex said after a minute. "At least, I know I've never heard this story. Have you?"

"I... has someone been casting McReary TimeReary?"

"Uh, Justin... even if we had, you're immune to it, remember?" Tutor said.

"Oh... right." He paused a moment, looking around their father's den, then shook his head one last time. "Never mind, then. Dad, you were saying?


	8. Chapter 8

Jerry looked at the kids and got... well, less than rapt attention from his audience. The ever-dutiful Justin was sitting quietly, waiting with his hands folded in his lap, and Tutor was similarly attentive. Alex and Max, however, were both distracted: Alex by her - no, actually, that was Justin's - phone, and Max by a loose thread where the cuffs of his jeans were fraying.

Still, though, no one was trying to leave the room, or talking, so by the (low) standards that Jerry had learned to expect in the course of teaching his children wizardry, this was good. Smiling a little, he sat back in his chair and started.

"Kids, I know you've heard this story from Theresa before, but I've never told you my side of it. And part of that's because I don't like to talk about myself -"

Alex made a cough that sounded suspiciously like 'Yeah, right,' and Jerry gave her a quick scowl and went on, a little more loudly. " - _nearly_ as much as your mother does. But another part of it is, well... a bit embarrassing."

_That _caught Alex's attention, and she looked up from Justin's phone, then put it into her purse, leaning over against him as she did. Unconsciously, Justin slid his arm around Alex, and she laid her head against his shoulder.

"So, anyway... in May of 1991, I was a young wizard with time on his hands. We hadn't had the family competition yet, but everyone knew how that was going to turn out - I was sure that Megan wasn't going to beat me, and Kelbo certainly wasn't going to, so all I was doing was marking time until Kelbo graduated high school and we could have the competition."

A frowning Justin raised a hand and opened his mouth for a question, so Jerry rushed on before he could start to get it out. "So, I decided to spend the summer seeing a bit more of the world. I hadn't been to Puerto Rico before, but I'd heard a lot about the wizard ruins there, so I dug out the remote for the IPP, found a landing spot I could use, and there I was."

"IPP," Max smirked. "That still -" he cut off then, as Tutor tilted her head and gave him a look.

"Max, sweetie, remember that thing we were talking about? About how you shouldn't say some things out loud? That's one of those things." He looked abashed, and Tutor smiled and gave him a quick kiss, which brought a smile back to his face. "Sorry," Tutor said, turning back toward Jerry. "I'm trying to break him of that."

Alex snuggled closer into Justin and whispered, "Remind me to tell her how long it took to housebreak him," which Justin steadfastly ignored.

Jerry looked around. "Is everyone done now? Can I get back to the story?" He paused half a second, then nodded. "Okay, then. Like I said..."

* * *

><p>Jerry Russo walked down the street, whistling as he did. The sun was bright, the air was warm, and the smell of the sea was rolling in from the bays in San Juan. <em>It's a beautiful day to be alive. Especially if you're a wizard. <em>A couple of girls were going the other way along the walk, chatting with each other in Spanish, and Jerry watched them out of the corner of his eye. As they came up even with him, he made a little flourish with each hand, then smiled at them and bowed slightly, offering them the two _flor de manga_ he'd just conjured.

They took the pink flowers, smiling. The taller of the pair said something to him in Spanish, and Jerry shook his head, spreading his hands as he did. "Sorry, don't speak a word of it. Do you speak English?"

It was the shorter one who replied, and Jerry took a closer look at her as he did. "Oh, you are American?" Jerry gave a nod in reply, and she went on. "I am Sofia, and she is Isabel."

"Pleased to meet you," Jerry replied with a small bow. "I'm Jerry."

"You are a... _touristo_, yes? Are you trying to find some..." She trailed off and shrugged, making an apologetic expression.

_Nowhere that you'd know the way to, unless you're a wizard,_ Jerry thought. Aloud, he said, "No, I'm not going anywhere special. But I'd be happy to go anywhere you two lovely ladies are going." He finished with a smile, trying hard not to let it go too far and become a leer. Evidently he was successful, since Sofia and Isabel both smiled in return. "We are going to resort." She pointed down the street, and Jerry turned to see.

The building she was pointing to was obvious - four stories, wide, surrounded by carefully arranged palm trees. "Oh, really? That's where I'm staying," he lied smoothly. "Are you here on vacation too?"

"No, no." Sofia shook her head quickly, causing her curly black hair to shake in waves. The motion made other parts of her shake as well, and Jerry looked down at her body without thinking about it, smiling as he ogled Sofia's body.

This, of course, was completely the wrong thing to do. She lost her smile and took a step back from him, arm moving up to her chest to cover it. Before she could complete the motion, however, Jerry gestured, rolling his eyes as he cast the well-practiced spell: "_McReary time-reary_."

A moment later, she shook her head again, and this time he resisted looking down at her jiggling body. "No, no - we are going to see..." She paused a moment, frowning. "Broke-dancing? There is a - race is not right word, I know..."

"Break-dancing competition?" Sofia nodded this time, and Jerry smiled. "That sounds fun, actually. Would you mind if I came with you?"

* * *

><p>Of course, that wasn't quite the story Jerry told his children. He carefully omitted the ogling and subsequent use of magic from his tale. "That was where I saw your mother the first time - at the competition that evening. And once I'd seen her move, I knew that I was going to be staying at the resort for real, since that was where all the competitors were staying."<p>

"So... you've never told her that?" Tutor asked, frowning a little. "Because the way she tells it, when she ran into you with the smoothie, and that was when you two first met..."

"Oh, that was when we first met all right - but it took some doing to get there!" Jerry grinned a little. "There's a lot that happened there that I've never told your mother about."

Alex raised an eyebrow, opening her eyes from where she'd snuggled into Justin. "Yeah? Like what?"

Jerry only hesitated a fraction of a second, but Justin caught it and smiled a little. _Picking what incident he can tell us about? I wonder what all really did happen there._ He didn't say anything, though, but simply listened as their father spoke. "Well, some of it is magic stuff - I couldn't tell her then, since she didn't know I was a wizard yet, and later on, well... you know how she can be about magic." He scratched his head a little, frowning, then snapped his fingers. "Actually, there was one that first night..."

* * *

><p>Standing between Sofia and Isabel, Jerry pretended enthusiasm as one of the competitors showed off his moves. He was just at the start of his routine, still standing, doing what the announcer was calling 'toprocking' - and while the girls were interested in the male dancers, Jerry wasn't, really. So he was scanning the crowd, looking around at both the spectators and the waiting dancers.<p>

Everyone seemed to be dressed up. The dancers were, of course - all part of showing themselves off - but most of the crowd was as well, dressed to impress on their vacation, to see and be seen. But there was one figure in the crowd who wasn't, who was dressed in simple, stark black - and then the figure moved, and Jerry had to fight not to gasp out loud as he saw it move through the thick crowd as if they simply were not there.

As the shrouded figure moved, those in its path simply moved aside of their own accord, for the most part - but many of them were not looking in the direction the figure was coming from, and should not have been able to see it in order to know to move. And those few who didn't move suddenly shivered as the black figure moved through whatever part of them remained in its path.

The young wizard had met many things - elves, goblins, gryphons, Mother Nature, even angels, demons, and dragons. But he swallowed and shivered as he watched Death himself move through the crowd.

* * *

><p>Still leaning over the back of her wicker chair, Miranda felt Lexie shift in her arms, felt the tension slowly draining out of her. <em>Oh, thank God.<em> "You can stay here tonight if you want. You should really be relaxed and okay when you talk to Gigi again, if you two had it out like that."

"No, you were right - I need to talk to Justin. I should go back home tonight and do that while he's still here. But thanks for the offer... and thanks for letting me rant."

"Everybody needs to sometimes. I'm just glad you felt like you could come here and do it." Miranda gave her a squeeze, then started to stand back upright - but Lexie caught her by the arm, pulled her back close, and Miranda let her.

"Thanks. I... I'm really glad you found out about the whole magic thing. It makes it so much easier, to have someone to talk to besides family and Harper." Miranda shifted, turning a little to get more comfortable while still holding on to Lexie - and then Lexie turned as well, pressing her lips against Miranda's.

Surprised, Miranda stiffened against Lexie, freezing where she was as soft lips moved against hers, and small, strong hands set onto her hips, grasping them firmly -

And then Lexie pulled away suddenly, her face red. "Oh - oh Miranda, I'm so sorry, I -"

Miranda opened her mouth to reply, reaching out for Lexie - but before her hand could get more than a few inches, Lexie was already gone, disappeared into thin air.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

Okay, so... a bit of a short chapter. But that's better than no progress, right? Right!

Answering the questions that I've been getting a lot lately:

_Are you planning on continuing [insert name of story]?_

Hopefully this new chapter makes it pretty obvious that the answer is yes. Right now, I'm hoping to get back on track by putting up a chapter every week or two, rotating between stories, until all the current stories are done (including the non-AGP ones - Midnight and Out of the Blue).

_Are there going to be more stories in the AGP series?_

I'm not sure yet. I'd like to continue writing fanfic, but I'd also really like to write something I can actually try to publish for money, and time I spend writing fanfic is time I'm not spending writing that. I may go back to doing just one fanfic at a time - I think I got a little crazy with numbers of stories while I was posting a chapter a couple of times a week. I _do _definitely have plans for at least a couple more stories in my head once the current ones are done.

_What about Wide World of Kink? That's not really a story per se..._

I've got two ideas for Wide World of Kink right now, and I'm sure more will come to me in time.

_Yay! Oh, and how are you doing personally?_

Kind of you to ask! My divorce is all resolved. Part of what's been keeping me busy lately is a new health kick - got established with a new doctor (long story - suffice it to say that I liked my old doctor, but hated his office staff), back on antidepressants and diabetes drugs, and I've lost about fifteen pounds from my highest weight, back in March, and am still losing. I'm thinking I may try to start dating in a few months, so we'll see how that goes...


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